Paul Renaud

New comic book release day 2/22/17. New comic releases are subject to change.These are our favorite covers from the new comics arriving this week. Listed below is the comic book with the cover artist. What are your favorite covers this week?

(Click on the comic cover or red link to buy/bid from ALL available Ebay sellers)

Conan the Avenger #22 – Click to Buy/Bid

Robert E. Howards’ stories sure have legs, and Conan has entertained us in novels and film, animations and comics for quite some time now. Most people are only familiar with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s portrayal of the character, but there most certainly is more. The last time I read a Conan comic Roy Thomas was writing it and the character was still being published by Marvel.

Fred van Lente knows that every comic could be a readers first, as was the case for me with this one. This issue is just an example of damn good storytelling, and good comics craft. The book is well paced, and beautifully drawn by Brian Ching. Most notably is a splash page on pages 4 and 5 of a harem of lovely ladies that I am sure Mr. Ching took no smaller pleasure in drawing than I did in viewing. The action is well done, with verve and great posing. The story is told in a third person narrative in the form of a letter warning of danger, revealing the underlying situation and moves the plot forward expertly and with beautiful language. I love seeing a creator employ the unique tools of the comics medium, and Van Lente uses a great dual narrative here, juxtaposing a beautiful visual story that goes between the macro plot of the current arc, and the micro story of this issue tying it all up expertly at the end. I have not read other issues in this series, but this book will be going into my shopping cart on a regular basis from now on. If you love the comics form and good story you won’t want to take your eyes off this creative team, so hopefully you’ll enjoy it too.

Ian Powers is an American film Director and Producer based in China, who has a passion for Comics and stories well told. He is currently developing several film and Animation projects and now he’s thinking seriously about writing comics.

Dark Knight III – Huge expectations for DC and fans alike. Spoiler alert coming up in case you don’t know, so discontinue reading if need be……..Frank Miller said that Carrie Kelly will take the Batman mantle in this latest installment. Wow another gender change for a big character, how original.

Silk #1 – InvestComics has and will always be on team Silk. Originality within this character brings the cultural and gender into play making for a possible deeper character driven hero for years to come.

Henchgirl #2 – Scout Comics has done it again. A sold out number issue (short print run) and a sold out number two issue. Henchgirl is hitting a cord with fans.

Jacked #1 – Maybe Hollywood or a television studio will come-a-knockin’ with this story. Or maybe not, but a DC/Vertigo title written by Eric Kripke will be an interesting book.

Well we cannot avoid the elephant in the room this week, so lets get it out the way shall we? Dark Knight III. Yep Dark Knight III and it’s 48 variant covers at last count. Absurdity at its finest here. 48 covers, is this truly necessary? Of course it’s not, but money is important for business, so while not necessary, it’s business. Before moving on, we want to point out that what you’re about to read regarding all of the hype regarding DKIII you may have heard here before over the years, just some rehash, an observation, some added numbers…..

Click To Buy/Bid

Click To Buy/Bid

Click To Buy/Bid

Here are some things to consider if you’re in the market for that rare rare crazy variant. The first and most obvious, well maybe not so obvious to the potential buyer, but if you spend a whole bunch of money on a “rare” DKIII variant, you just bought a comic book “cover” for say….$150. So now you have yourself a “nice” pretty cover with the SAME EXACT insides as probably 1 million other comic books. Absolutely NOTHING different within the confines of YOUR pretty expensive cover’s insides as opposed to the other million copies. So your options are one or two things after you make your $150+ purchase. Get it graded (9.8 or more) and quadruple your intake (poor sap buying that! Wow) or hold onto it thinking you’ll have a comic to send your children to college with, which will never happen. Here’s a wake-up call. First and foremost, Dark Knight III will probably be a great book, better than Dark Knight II, but NOT better than Dark Knight I. Let’s have a clear understanding of something here, if you are an avid collector you will not have to read ahead here, but this is for the newer collectors and the others that have been brainwashed by websites trying to over-hype 48+ covers. The Dark Knight Returns (1986) came out right before Watchmen #1 (1986). Whether you are a fan of either of these books or not, these were game changers. Fifty years from now, pop culture will refer back to 1986’s Dark Knight and Watchmen books. It will not refer back to 2015 Dark Knight III. It just won’t happen. So lets do a quick reminder before the hate mail, Dark Knight III will probably be a great read. Better than II, but it probably won’t be a game changer. A game changer will always be a reference, a shape, a starting point, a long term monetary gain. Here is the pricing of three recent graded copies of DKI (1986) and what they sold for; 9.4 $220, 9.6 $239, 9.8 $750. Don’t you feel the pricing should be just a bit higher here, considering the iconic attachment of this book right? Well it probably would be, but one slight setback, too many copies out there. According to the CGC Census there are 344 9.8 graded copies and 725 at 9.6 and 350 at 9.4. and so on…..that’s a whole lot of comics. This is the reason the pricing will steadily increase over the years, but will never bounce to ridiculous numbers quickly like DKIII will in the immediate interim. Now lets relate ALL of this to Dark Knight III. The other speculative sites will inform buyers that this will be a book for the ages. Newsflash, It’s not going to be, but most buy into it and will jump all over it. All of those crispy 9.8 rare variants of Dark Knight III will go out to the grading companies and now you will eventually far exceed the 344 copies from 1986 that grade at 9.8. They will sell at or ABOVE the last sold copy from 1986. Does this make sense at all to you? Oh yes yes, it’s a special cover that’s right. The inside is still the same right? Yes yes it is, we’ve already established that. But man is this a great money grab right? There will be over hyped buyers listening to these other sites and essentially making a bad purchase, but readers here will be smart and sell their books if they can double/triple their money. Do not let greed set in, you will eventually lose.

Dark Knight I (1986) contained the first appearance of Carrie Kelly. It was written Frank Miller. Art by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson. Dark Knight III this Wednesday will be written by Brian Azzarello and ….Frank Miller? Back to that in a sec. Art by Andy Kubert /Klaus Janson. So it’s said that Frank Miller had nothing to do with the story. DC attached his name as though Miller was an intricate part of the story, but he kind of wasn’t. Frank Miller did state though that he will be THE writer on Dark Knight IV. Oh joy, 80 variants for that one we hope!

Will Dark Knight III contain that all too important first appearance to keep its lure? Will the story be so groundbreaking that it changes the comic book medium? This is the only way in the comic collectors hobby that DKIII will sustain its long term monetary value in ANY way. Otherwise what you will have in that $600 Jim Lee variant cover is…..a pretty cover. Good luck with that. Invest that $600 on a Silver Age or Bronze Age book.

Click on the RED links or the comic cover to buy/bid from All sellers on Ebay.

In closing regarding DKIII. Before anyone sends the hate mail we are not suggesting you do not buy DKIII or any of its variants. We are not down on DKIII. We’re not saying NOT to buy it. You absolutely should. It’s probably going to be a cool read, but what we are saying is not to get caught up in the hype and waste your hard earned money. If you dig a variant and it’s expensive, but YOU dig it, then by all means buy it. Buy what you like because you connect with it. We like to inform collectors of the reality of things and not the fantasy when it comes to speculation. Barring any major introductions or groundbreaking storytelling, this series at the end of the day will be just another good Batman story. Which is fine.

NOTE: To any of the Frank Miller fans, did you know we have a Frank Miller checklist on InvestComics? Yep. Right HERE. Have fun and click on those Miller books you either didn’t know about or forgot about altogether!

Click To Buy/Bid

Click To Buy/Bid

Click To Buy/Bid

Click To Buy/Bid

(insert sarcasm here) Oh my goodness! It’s Harley Quinn on the cover of a Deathstroke comic! Will Deathstroke #12 be just like the RARE Scooby Doo Team-Up #12 Harley Quinn comic that InvestComics did NOT recommend and sold for a whopping $5.99 on Ebay last week?! No, but it’s a bad as* team-up and should be checked out.

A must read new DC/Vertigo title this Wednesday; Jacked #1. We can see this “ordinary” character becoming a movie or TV series one day.

Image Comics informs their Black Magick readers that a major character introduction will come in Black Magick #2. Sticking with the tip-off deal here from Image, Rumble #9 is set to introduce two major characters into the fray.

WWE fans may want to be put on alert as Ringside #1 from Image Comics hits this week. A violent wrestling story from writer Joe Keatinge. No John Cena here….maybe that’s for the best?

Click on the RED links or the comic cover to buy/bid from All sellers on Ebay.

Back in 2010 InvestComics pointed out a nice cheap Jack Kirby number one issue/first appearance. It was Devil Dinosaur #1 (1978) and a near mint raw copy was selling for about $9. King Kirby was the writer, artist, editor, and the cover artist of this book for most of the nine issue run. A graded 9.8 PGX graded sold last week for about $74. Still a bargain actually! Why the mention of Devil Dinosaur? Well a sleeper book may hit this Wednesday so don’t nap on it. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1 will be a good book. A few variants available, but the regular Amy Reeder cover is our fav. Also a note here and maybe more important than anything we just said. Back in 1978 not only was Devil Dinosaur’s first appearance in the number one issue, but it was also the first appearance of Moon Boy. Guess who’s first appearance is in the 2015 number issue? Yep, Moon Girl.

Click To Buy/Bid

Click To Buy/Bid

Click To Buy/Bid

Click To Buy/Bid

Regular visitors to the InvestComics website know that we are big fans of Silk. Always have been. We have always felt there is more upside to her character than many other new female characters within the Marvel Universe. Silk #1 in it’s second volume already hits this Wednesday. Written by Robbie Thompson and art by Stacey Lee. You’re going to have to fight through a lot of the Silk #1 volume 1 to find Silk #1 volume 2 on Ebay right now. The popularity of the latest series should overtake the current 300+ listings of volume 1. Or after you click the link, you can input “vol 2” on the search bar! Some still come up differently on Ebay, so you’ll have to try different searches; i.e. Volume 2, Silk #1 vol 2, Silk vol 2 #1, etc…..

So what does Marvel do if they A: don’t want to pursue the Rom character back from obscurity or B: never cared enough to even think they want Rom back so they lost out to IDW Publishing in getting Rom back first even if they did in fact want him. Confused yet? We are. Anyway, comic fans know by now that Rom Space Knight is now at IDW Publishing. With that, Marvel will try to one up IDW this Wednesday with Venom Space Knight #1. No for real, no joke. No Amazing Spider-Man #300 Venom here, no this is Venom Space Knight! Marvel put writer Robbie Thompson and artist Ariel Olivetti on this book. They’re looking for a pop here. Will they get it? Hmmm…..maybe not? Maybe? But the Mike Deodato Jr. variant is awesome though isn’t it?

Click on the RED links or the comic cover to buy/bid from All sellers on Ebay.

InvestComics gave you a heads up on Henchgirl #1 from Scout Comics. It sold out it’s short print run rather quick. Now the followup; Henchgirl #2. Will the second issue dictate where the series is headed? Will fans pick up on it? If you dug the first issue, show your support. Oh wait wait, we forgot to mention, Henchgirl #2 is sold out. Maybe the fans are speaking out already!